Interdepartmental Two-photon Imaging Center

描述(由申请人提供)：细胞和分子成像技术正在给神经科学带来革命性的变化。对这一领域影响最大的技术是非线性光学显微镜，它能够以前所未有的空间和时间分辨率对活组织深处的荧光结构进行双光子(2P)成像。将2P成像与电生理学和分子去势相结合，创造了一种非常强大的工具，对神经科学研究的进行产生了深远的影响。这项修订提案的战略目标是将这项关键技术交到西北大学(NU)两个高生产率的神经科学家团队手中，这两个团队每年从NINDS获得近800万美元的资金(直接成本)。其中一组专注于神经树突在健康、衰老和疾病中的特性；另一组专注于神经干细胞生物学及其在神经再生中的应用。为了最大限度地增加NU和NINDS在这些研究项目上的投资，这两个群体都需要随时获得用户友好的多功能2P成像工作站。为实现这一目标，我们设计了以下具体目标：1.进一步表征和优化我们现有的2P成像工作站的性能；2.通过增加集成电生理学和分子去核的新的硬件和软件功能来扩展现有工作站的能力；3.为目前无法获得这些资源的NIH资助的研究人员创建更多的核心设施和技术支持；4.建立一个基础设施，以确保所有核心的安全、高效和富有成效的操作；5.为了建立一个互联网分发点，传播有关应用程序、软件和硬件设计/实施的信息，已经聘请了在生产2P工作站方面有专门知识的公司伙伴Prairie Technologies，以帮助实现这些目标。通过在产业界和研究人员之间建立对话，我们希望加快最符合神经科学界需求的硬件和软件的开发。这些目标的实现不仅将对国立卫生研究院资助的NU研究项目产生革命性的影响，还将显著加快将这些技术交付给更广泛的神经科学界，加快科学发现的步伐，并促进神经疾病新疗法的开发。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cellular and molecular imaging technologies are revolutionizing neuroscience. The technology with the biggest potential impact on this field is "non-linear optical microscopy" which enables two-photon (2P) imaging of fluorescent structures deep in living tissue with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. Combining 2P imaging with electrophysiology and molecular uncaging creates an extraordinarily powerful tool that is having a profound effect on the conduct of neuroscientific study. The strategic goal of this revised proposal is to put this critical technology in the hands of a two highly productive groups of neuroscientists at Northwestern University (NU) that receive nearly $8M/year (direct costs) in funding from NINDS. One of these groups is focused on the properties of neuronal dendrites in health, aging and disease; the other group is focused on neural stem cell biology and its application to neuroregeneration. To maximize the investment of NU and NINDS in these research programs, both groups need ready access to user-friendly, multifunctional 2P imaging workstations. The following specific aims are designed to achieve this goal: 1. to further characterize and optimize the performance of our existing 2P imaging workstations; 2. to extend the capabilities of the existing workstations by adding new hardware and software features integrating electrophysiology and molecular uncaging; 3. to create additional core facilities with 2P imaging workstations and technical support for NIH funded investigators who do not currently have access to these resources; 4. to establish an infrastructure that ensures the safe, efficient and productive operation of all the cores; 5. to create an Internet-based distribution point for dissemination of information about applications, software and hardware design/implementation A corporate partner with expertise in the production of 2P workstations, Prairie Technologies, has been recruited to help achieve these aims. By establishing a dialogue between industry and researchers, we hope to accelerate the development of hardware and software that best meets the needs of the neuroscience community. The attainment of these aims will not only have a transforming impact on the NIH funded research programs at NU but it will significantly accelerate the delivery of these technologies to the broader neuroscience community, quicken the pace of scientific discovery and promote the development of new treatments for neurological disorders.